1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a breeding nest-forming structure for small pet animals such as rodents, e.g., hamsters or the like, and also relates to a breeding housing using the breeding nest-forming structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, in breeding small pet animals such as hamsters, a breeding housing such as a cage or a molded plastic container has been commonly used. In the housing, a small house, an exercise wheel, a feeding dish, a water bottle, an excretion tray or the like are typically provided. Rodents such as hamsters inherently have natural characteristics or habits of making a nest-hole under the ground and inhabiting therein, i.e., sleeping, eating, excreting and the like. Conventional breeding housings, however, provide hamsters with unnatural breeding environments far from their inherent nest-life habits. This causes stress to hamsters, which in turn may cause disease or lead to early death. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of breeders, it is impossible to observe their inherent nest-life. In addition, since hamsters have nocturnal habits and therefore tend to stay in the house in the daytime, such habits prevent us from observing their acts. Especially, since hamsters tend to spend most of their time in the house during the daytime because of its nocturnal habit, it is very difficult to observe their lovely behavior and/or sleeping style as long as they are in the house.
The applicant proposed a breeding housing for small pet animals such as rodents comprising a casing and an underground passage-forming member disposed in the casing (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-56902A).
This proposed breeding housing for small pet animals includes a main casing having a front opening, an underground passage-forming member having a front-opened underground passage portion formed like a nest-hole and disposed in the main casing and a transparent front panel attached to the main casing so as to close the front-opened underground passage portion. As the underground passage-forming member, a molded plastic article including inorganic powder filler is used. According to such a breeding housing, rodents such as hamsters can go up to the upper surface of the ground passage-forming member as a ground from the underground passage portion formed like a nest-hole and vice-versa, and can enjoy the inherent nest-hole life in the underground passage-forming member with less stress because the breeding housing can provide breeding environments in conformity to their inherent habits. Furthermore, breeders can observe hamsters"" behavior or actions in the underground passage portion through the transparent front panel and enjoy their behavior and/or sleeping style.
However, the underground passage-forming member for the aforementioned previously proposed breeding housing is a relatively large synthetic resign molded article. Therefore, the cost of manufacturing the forming die and the material costs become expensive. Especially, in cases where a plurality of underground passage-forming members different in pattern are manufactured, the costs will increase since respective forming dies are required. Furthermore, since such an underground passage-forming member becomes contaminated by bodily wastes and/or leftover meals, it is required to clean it periodically. However, it was troublesome to clean the underground passage-forming member having a complex passage.
On the other hand, since rodents such as hamsters prefer to gnaw articles, the aforementioned molded plastic article forming the underground passage-forming member is strengthened by mixing inorganic powder filler into the plastic. However, this restricts the gnawing instinct of rodents, which in turn gives rodents stress. Furthermore, rodents have habits of making a nest in the ground by gathering fiber materials. Therefore, in case of using the aforementioned proposed breeding housing, it is required to put nest materials therein in accordance with their habits. This requires costs and labor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a breeding nest-forming structure capable of providing breeding environments close to the inherent native habitat of rodents such as hamsters in accordance with their living habits and a breeding housing using the breeding nest-forming structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide various breeding nest-forming structures different in nest-hole pattern which can be manufactured at low cost and decrease the breeding labor and a breeding housing using the breeding nest-forming structure.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the preferred embodiments, which may be modified in any manner without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a breeding nest-forming structure comprises a lamination made of corrugated cardboard, wherein the lamination is provided with a nest-like space formed therein and an opening communicating with the nest-like space formed at one of four peripheral side surfaces of the lamination, and wherein at least a part of the nest-like space constitutes a front-opened portion opened at a front surface of the lamination.
In the nest-forming structure, since inexpensive corrugated cardboard is used as the materials and a forming die, which is required to make a plastic molded article, is not required, various different types of nest-forming structures can be manufactured at very low cost. For rodents such as hamsters, it is easy to obtain nest materials by gnawing the corrugated cardboard and change the nest shape. Furthermore, the nest-forming structure is light in weight and excellent in thermal insulation and warmth retaining property. Since the nest-forming structure is made of paper materials, no disposal problem after use will occur.
It is preferable that the lamination is made by integrally securing a plurality of corrugated cardboard each having a punched nest-like space forming aperture. In this case, the nest-like space forming operation can be performed easily as compared with the case in which a nest-like space is formed by boring a nest-hole space in a previously prepared lamination. Furthermore, a complex nest-hole pattern, which is difficult to form by the aforementioned boring processing, can be formed arbitrarily, and it becomes possible to change a nest-hole pattern by simply changing the combination of punched corrugated cardboard having different punched apertures.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a breeding housing for small pet animals comprises a casing provided with at least a transparent front portion and a breeding nest-forming structure disposed in the casing, wherein the nest-forming structure includes a lamination made of corrugated cardboard, the lamination being provided with a nest-like space formed therein and an opening communicating with the nest-like space formed at one of four peripheral side surfaces of the lamination, and at least a part of the nest-like space constituting a front-opened portion opened at a front surface of the lamination, wherein the nest-forming structure is disposed in the casing in such a state in which the opening faces upward and the front-opened portion faces a front of the casing, and wherein a surplus space is formed above the nest-forming structure in the casing.
With this breeding housing, small pet animals such as rodents, e.g., hamsters, can enjoy the nest life in the nest-like space formed in the nest-forming structure. Furthermore, for the small pet animals, it is possible to freely utilize the surplus space above the nest-forming structure as a ground space, move in and out the nest-like space, obtain nest-forming materials by gnawing the corrugated cardboard constituting the nest-forming structure and/or change the nest shape. Accordingly, a breeding environment in conformity to their inherent habits can be provided, casing less stress to small pet animals. Furthermore, since the opened nest-like space is exposed to the outside through the transparent front portion of the casing, the life style of the small pet animals can be observed. In addition, since the nest-forming structure is inexpensive as mentioned above, by simply replacing a contaminated and/or heavily deformed nest-forming structure with a new one, the labor for breeding administration can be lessened.
In this breeding housing, it is preferable that a part of the nest-like space in the nest-forming structure constitutes a nest chamber which cannot be seen from the outside of the casing. In this case, since small pet animals in the breeding housing can utilize the nest chamber at the time of sleeping while avoiding human eyes and/or external light, more comfortable living environments with less stress can be provided.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the transparent front portion of the casing is a panel attached to a front-opening of a front-opened main casing in a detachable manner or in an openable and closable manner. In this case, the cleaning of the nest-like space can be easily performed by detaching or opening the panel. Furthermore, it is preferable that the casing has an upper portion with a flattened cylindrical handle portion extending in a fore-and-aft direction of the casing and that the flat cylindrical handle portion constitutes a ventilating opening of the casing. In this case, the carrying of the breeding housing can be performed easily, and the ventilation can be performed through the ventilation opening.
It is preferable that the casing has an upper portion with a tunnel pipe connecting portion. In this case, since the small pet animals in the breeding housing can come and go between a plurality of breeding housings through tunnel pipes connecting the breeding housings, resulting in an expanded living area for small pet animals. In case of forming a tunnel pipe connecting portion in the side portion of the housing, it is preferable that the breeding nest-forming structure disposed in the casing is provided with a side opening which communicates with the nest-like space and faces the tunnel pipe connecting portion.
It is preferable that the casing is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a smaller thickness in a fore-and-aft direction of the casing, wherein the casing has a foot longer than the thickness of the casing, wherein the foot is rotatably connected to a bottom portion of the casing so that the foot can take a pulled out position along the fore-and-aft direction of the casing and a drawn back position along a right-and-left direction of the casing. In this case, the foot taking the pulled out position enables the casing to stand stably. On the other hand, in the drawn back position, the breeding housing can be conveniently stored or carried in a compact manner.
The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of various embodiments will be further appreciated in view of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Various embodiments can include and/or exclude different aspects, features and/or advantages where applicable. In addition, various embodiments can combine one or more aspect or feature of other. embodiments where applicable. The descriptions of aspects, features and/or advantages of particular embodiments should not be construed as limiting other embodiments or the claims.